Black History Month

Airs Wednesday, February 3, at 2 p.m. Join the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir as they celebrate Black History month with Messenger of Peace featuring Peace Like a River, In Christ There Is No East or West, When the Saints Go Marching In, Deep River, and Down by the Riverside. Then we hear them ina program titled Songs From The Soul featuring baritone Robert Sims, Gold Medal winner of the American Traditions Competition.

Airs Tuesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. The artistic collaboration between Duke Ellington and composer/ arranger Billy Strayhorn is one of the most important in the history of American music. It's the subject of the music documentary,"The Magic of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn" presented by the AAPRC Network this month.

Airs Sunday, February 22, at 6 p.m. State of the Re:Union has made it an annual tradition to commemorate Black History Month with a special episode exploring lesser known corners of African-American history. This year, we do that through the lens of African-American art, the role it has played in social movements and everyday life, and why it matters both to the black community and the United States as a whole. From a poem celebrating Nina Simone and her powerful voice for social change, to the story of the surprising event that sparked the hip-hop cultural revolution, to unsung heroes of the culinary arts, SOTRU provides a rich hour of art as a window into African-American history, and how communities have been transformed by it.

Airs Thursday, February 19 at 8 p.m. Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison was born Chloe Wofford in 1931. She was 39 when she published her first novel about a black girl’s painful coming of age in a white society. The Bluest Eye and many subsequent works have earned Morrison the highest accolades in literature and established her as one of America’s leading fiction writers.

Airs Wednesday, February 18, at 9 p.m. Langston Hughes, an enduring icon of the Harlem Renaissance, is best-known for his written work, which wedded his fierce dedication to social justice with his belief in the transformative power of the word. But he was a music lover, too, and some of the works he was most proud of were collaborations with composers and musicians.

Hosted by Terrance McKnight, WQXR host and former Morehouse professor of music, I, Too, Sing America will dive into the songs, cantatas, musicals and librettos that flowed from Hughes’ pen. As he did with his poetry, Hughes used music to denounce war, combat segregation and restore human dignity in the face of Jim Crow. His musical adventures included writing lyrics for stage pieces such as Black Nativity and Tambourines to Glory, works that helped give birth to the genre of Gospel Play, as well as songs for radio plays and political campaigns, and the libretto for Kurt Weill’s Street Songs.